- Read the first paragraph to try to find a thesis.
- STOP reading.
- Only skim subsequent paragraphs, in particular looking for topic sentences.
- Read the last paragraph, in case the thesis got put there.
Are there any disadvantages to doing this? What are they?
Are there any advantages? What are they?
What questions did you ask the student that helped this work (or might help this work next time)?
Will there be a next time?
And last, why in the world would I ask you to try this?
I have always tried not to read a student’s essay word for word. Typically we only have a short amount of time with any given person and if they are waiting for me to read the entire essay, then I am not going to have time to work with them on some of the most glaring issues. The advantages of skimming the essay is the amount of time you can work with a student on grammar or organization of the essay. However, the huge disadvantage is we can miss some major issues with the essay that we skimmed over. I try to inform the student that I am not here to catch everything wrong with the paper, but to check on clarity, organization, and major grammar issues. I also try to inform the student that my goal is to teach them how to self edit their own work.
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ReplyDeleteI have been doing this more often, because it does save a lot of time. I try to scan through the essay quickly and then allow the student to clarify whatever it is that I missed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the point that its difficult to read the entire essay because it may consume lot of time. Also Skimming through the essay may skip some important points to be noted. So its better to read the entire paragraphs to avoid mistakes. Also we can pick out some spelling & grammatical mistakes.
ReplyDeleteJohn Nolan,
Tutoid.